Yet again I’ve been neglecting our blogging duties. We really miss our usual adventures. Visiting new places, experiencing different cultures, exploring off the beaten track. The pandemic has changed everything but we are still out in the world and need to remember not to stop documenting that.
In our last entry we were living in Seminyak. It was a good easy life as well. A nice villa with a pool, the occasional walks on the beach and the usual high standard of food that we have became accustomed to in Bali. But it was getting a bit stagnant, we needed a change.
The virus worries us, as it does many. We certainly haven’t wanted to catch it that’s for sure and being unable to get a vaccine so far here in Bali has made us overly cautious with our daily life. Despite heightened restrictions being in place for several weeks it can be easy to forget that the virus isn’t out there in Bali. Many businesses here are open as normal. Restaurants, bars, shops, it sounds wonderful I’m sure but we have definitely taken a cautious approach when it comes to keeping ourselves safe. We have hardly ventured out other than for essentials such as food and household stuff, when we do we are always double masked and carry hand sanitizer by the gallon everywhere we go. It’s each to their own opinion with the virus these days, God knows it’s been around long enough and life goes on but that’s just been our own personal choice in how have been choosing to handle it lately.
So we grew bored of our villa existence in Seminyak and decided to take a weeks break from it and venture out a little more. We had a few nights at the impressive Renaissance hotel and spa in Uluwatu. It’s a huge hotel with a pool the size of the Mediterranean and that suited us just fine. With it being quiet here right now it was easy to distance ourselves from others and enjoy everything the hotel had to offer. They were lazy days usually spent in the pool with nobody else to be seen, a nice little slice of luxury.
From there we had a night at a small but beautiful place called L perched high on a hill overlooking the sea. It was a beautiful location and we got an amazing deal for the night. When we contacted them to book we were told that all of their usual rooms had gone. They had a family sized villa with it’s own pool and a separate bungalow within the compound and we were welcome to take the small bungalow at the same price as a room on the understanding that if anyone booked the rest of the villa we would be sharing the pool and communal areas such as the kitchen and living area. We took a gamble on it and sure enough it paid off. We checked in and as the afternoon hours by the pool ticked by it became obvious that nobody else was coming to the villa, we had the entire place to ourselves.
There was also a downside to this villa as well in the form of Covid Colin who was staying in the bungalow right next to our villa. His bungalow was right outside the entrance to our place and this guy blatantly had Covid. He would sit out the front of his bungalow all day long with his non stop dry barking cough spewing into the air. I mean come on dude. If your as ill as that, obviously with the virus, at least keep yourself isolated indoors for everyone else’s wellbeing. But no Covid Colin was determined to sit outside the entrance to our villa spreading his germs to the world.
Despite that it was a nice lazy day and we chilled out with some drinks and music at our pool. The place had a stunning little communal pool right at the edge of the cliff looking out to sea and we planned on having a quick dip after breakfast the morning we were due to leave. But guess what? As we were sitting having breakfast who decided to making a spluttering appearance and use the pool for a dip? That’s right Covid Colin. Really? It’s bad enough that your not keeping everybody else safe by staying indoors but it’s inexcusable to come and use a small communal pool. This really got me worked up. I appreciate everyone has their own opinion on this pandemic and people have their own levels of how safe they are keeping themselves, but don’t be ignorant and a threat to others Colin you knacker! It was good to see the back of Covid Colin and move on.
From Ulluwatu we headed North and into Bali’s big beautiful beating heart, Ubud.
There probably isn’t much more that I can say about Ubud that I haven’t already said in a dozen previous posts. Get out of the town, into the fields and small villages and for us it’s one of the most magical places in the world that you can be. It oozes charm by the bucket load. Stunning scenery. Emerald green rice fields, traditional small villages, snake like thin strips of tarmac to ride along and the skimpiest of footpaths to go and get lost on, it’s Asia at it’s finest. Then there are the people, the beautiful Balinese people out in their fields. Bali has a reputation for having some of the friendliest people on the planet and it’s true! Your walking along the little paths between the rice paddies and you’ll spot an old man or woman working in the field. They wont have spotted you but they will be smiling away to themselves. Once they do spot you though you get the warmest of welcomes, some small talk and the cheeriest of infectious smiles to send you happily on your way. Just genuine, happy amazing people. We love it here.
We had a few days planned for Ubud as we decided that we wanted to move up here and needed some time to look for a monthly rental. The place we stayed at while looking was great. Blue Karma, located a few kilometres North out of the town, nestled in the rice fields with beautiful jungle views. It was bloody cheap as well for what you got. A beautiful traditional wooden room with fantastic view out down the rice fields and into the jungle, all for £20 a night, you can’t go wrong.
The villa hunting took quite some time though. We must have viewed around 15 places over 3 days, some great, some not so great but eventually we narrowed it down to 3. One of them was spectacular, a huge garden and pool, set out on it’s own in some remote rice fields but the data connection there was almost non-existent and we couldn’t throw all our bags into the broadband basket incase there were ever any problems with it. The internet in Indonesia isn’t the most stable or consistent. The next place was close to town and boasted a huge pool and living space. It kind of felt too big though and we don’t like taking places that are more than what we need so we decided to pass on it.
This left us with the cheapest option out of the 3 and it felt right to take it. It was West of the town and just off a main road in a family compound. Looking at our money it was the best option for us and though basic it was a nice enough place and the family there were lovely and welcoming.
Having paid a deposit we were all set to move in a couple of days later. It was going to be a busy few days ahead of us.
We had finally managed to get a booking for our 1st Covid shot on the Tuesday at a clinic just North of Denpasar. This meant on the Monday we rode from Blue Karma to our new digs to pick up the keys and drop our smaller bags off that we had with us. It was then straight from there in a Grab (Taxi) an hour down the road to our villa in Seminyak. We quickly pulled all our gear together and another hour later we were back and unpacking at our new place.
It was then an early night as we needed to be up at 6 am to head back down the island to the hospital where our Covid shot was booked. We were a little nervous going as well. Not nervous about the shot, we have been desperate to get it, but nervous of the fact that Indonesia things aren’t as strictly organized as back home.
When we arrived it was just one big crowd of people, exactly what we feared. Not the best environment to be in during a deadly pandemic. There were around 300 people crowing round the narrow entrance and we just had to get on with it. It wasn’t even as if we could just hang around the back at a safe distance and wait until the crowds had died down. We had to battle our way through them to go and show our appointment. Then after that we had to go back out and mingle with the masses to get our blood pressure done. Social distancing was well and truly out the window here. But we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to get our vaccination, free of charge in a foreign country.
The whole process took around 7-8 hours but at last we were stabbed in the arm and on our way back to our new home with a paper certificate to show that we had our first shot and a date to return for our second. Hopefully we didn’t catch anything while we were there. Time will tell, but glad that is the first one done.
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